Soil Vent Pipes and Durgo valves

[MarksDad]

Trying to get my head round these folks !

Recently bought a two-year-old 2nd floor flat and we were pretty soon complaining of a powerful sewer like smell in the kitchen. To cut a long, sad story short, the SVP terminates within the flat at about head height within a casing running from floor to ceiling and the Durgo valve has now been replaced as intermittently faulty (by contractors, not me).

Forgive my ignorance but I was amazed that a SVP should terminate within a building at all. Is this correct ? I was further amazed that it did not in consequence terminate in the loft space but actually within the flat. This is a communal SVP remember.

Then to go against all my instincts, the contractors say that the valve within the SVP casing should remain open to the ambient air within the flat, perhaps hidden by a discreet grille over the glaring hole recently cut in the SVP casing for valve access !

Is all this correct ? Can I sleep easy at nights still ? Or should I fill every little crack I can find in the SVP casing ?

Yours in dismay and confusion

MarksDad

 

[hi-spec plumbing heating]

an aav can terminate in a room providing it's above the overflow level on the highest appliance which will be your basin. head hight is fine.

an aav does not remain open only when faulty.
its when you flush the toilet and you get a neg pressure the valve opens and draws air in then shuts again.

an aav should never be boxed in fully or it doesn't work.
just because it's boxed in in the bathroom it may be open in the loft area.

check in your loft space if the top is open not a problem if not then it must have a vent in the bathroom.

 

[MarksDad]

Thanks for prompt response.

One of the problems with this flat (indeed possibly all the flats in this block) is that loft access seems to have been overlooked. Probably illegal, I guess, but everything is built down to a price ? There certainly is no loft access in our flat nor any I can see in the communal area on our floor.

Anyway, to clarify, the point is that the Durgo valve or AAV is actually sitting on top of the SVP which is boxed into the kitchen. This boxing or casing runs from floor to ceiling there but the ceiling is intact - no hole into the loft - and the casing just joins the ceiling with sealant. So the valve does its business sucking air (and hopefully not blowing) from the air in the kitchen. I just feel uneasy with this unit so close to food preparation I suppose.

From what you say, I may well get further problems if I seal it all up too thoroughly. So that is noted.

It was like pushing on the end of a piece of string to get anyone to take our problem seriously in the first place but hopefully it is now fixed.

MarksDad